1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for guiding bands to be joined to one another along their longitudinal edges, comprising guide elements which form a first track for guiding a first band of the bands to be joined, and guide elements which form a second track for guiding a second band to be joined along one of the longitudinal edges of the first band, the tracks being configured in such a way that the bands guided thereon approach one another in the transport direction and the longitudinal edges thereof to be joined to one another rest on one another from a contact point without a gap and without an overlap. In particular, the invention relates to a method for guiding bands to be joined to one another along their longitudinal edges, in which bands extending substantially in parallel with spacing from one another are guided via guide elements which form a first track and guide elements which form a second track to a joining point in such a way that the bands guided on the tracks approach one another in the transport direction and the longitudinal edges thereof to be joined to one another rest on one another from a contact point without a gap and without an overlap.
2. Description of the Related Art
In welding systems for producing non-continuous or continuous bands made of two or more bands, the need generally exists in terms of the method for a wedge-shaped joining angle (feed angle) between the bands to be joined to one another along their longitudinal edges, with subsequent parallelism of the longitudinal edges behind the joining point.
Various devices for guiding bands are known, in which flat bands with a different thickness, width and/or material quality can be welded edge to edge along their longitudinal edges to form non-continuous or continuous bands.
A device for guiding steel bands and for continuous butt-joining along their longitudinal edges by means of laser welding is disclosed in JP 11285874 A. In this case, two steel bands are guided in such a way that they approach one another with the formation of a wedge-shaped joining or feed angle in the same transport plane and their longitudinal edges to be welded to one another rest on one another from the contact point without a gap and without an overlap. For this purpose, the device for each of the two bands has a plurality of transport rollers before the weld position, which define a common transport plane. Furthermore, a first horizontal guide element is provided, on which a first of the two bands rests with its longitudinal edge to be welded, this first band being guided by a further (first) horizontal guide element, which presses against the outer longitudinal edge, not to be welded, of the band, onto the axis extending through the weld position. Shortly before the contact point of the two bands, the longitudinal edge to be welded of the other or second band is pressed by means of a further or second horizontal guide element, which presses against the outer longitudinal edge, not to be welded, of the second band, against the longitudinal edge to be welded of the first band. In addition, at least one of the last transport rollers before the contact point of the two bands can be oriented obliquely with respect to the running direction of the band in order to direct the band against the other band.